Hilarious. Just 4 days ago I was arguing that it might be time to let Roddy go. His speed and production over are declining just as you might expect from a 35 year old NFL player, and we are paying him too much money to catch 50-60 for 500 yds. and a TD. But I got drowned by downvotes without hearing many arguments to the contrary.
I don't know the context of the quote and I really don't care that he said it, I'm sure that this is more of an out of context tweet than Roddy really trying to stir up drama. The guy has been a great player for this franchise, I appreciate his attitude on the field and I think that he has matured really well over his career. I believe that he had a major role in helping Julio to become such a humble, grounded person and we will be forever indebted to him for that. I respect Roddy enough to take the childish shit for what it is and realize that this is a guy who probably has a deep respect for the Falcons ownership and organization. I think that he just likes to stir up controversy and it's never gotten to the point where I would want him off the team over something stupid that he has said. I truly believe that his heart is in the right place.
All that being said, it must be time to get out from under his contract. I think that we can gain more value by taking the cap hit to open up space for younger talent to come in and start gaining experience. Roddy has been an incredible player for us but both his production and skills are declining at this point, and I don't see a reason why they would increase dramatically over the course of his contract.
I know there is an argument here to be made that Roddy hasn't gotten enough opportunities under Shanahan, but I firmly disagree. As evidenced even by the last game this season Roddy has lost quickness and speed, such that he has a harder time getting open. He also has had a problem with dropped passes which are a total aberration from the normal Roddy White. Even if you completely disagree with the direction that Shanahan is taking this offense, I don't think you can discount the fact that he is better than any of us at watching tape. I think that he can clearly see that Roddy's physical skill set is deteriorating and therefore he has decided not to give him as many opportunities.
Whichever side you fall on, it's hard to make the argument that we should keep the guy just because he deserves a spot as a Falcons legend. u/asha1985 makes the correct point that teams cannot continue to improve by holding on to aging players whose productivity is decreasing. This is just one of the many reasons that Belichick is so successful, he has loyalty to the players as men but he will not justify keeping older players around if he thinks that their salaries exceed their production or potential.
tl;DR Roddy White is one of the great Falcons of all time. But his physical attributes and production are both deteriorating, most likely due to age but also probably in conjunction with scheme changes. I would argue that it is definitely worth evaluating his contract in detail to make sure that we are not paying him for more than he can produce over the course of the next 2 years. Championship teams are built by maximizing value and minimizing cost. I don't think it is unreasonable to think that we can find a higher upside player at a much lower cost who can contribute at least as much as Roddy did this year.